In attendance: Dave McShaffrey (Chair), Jim O’Donnell, Bill Bauer, Mark Sibicky, Laura Little, Cathy Brown, Sharon Douglass, Carolyn Backus, Tina Ullman, Gloria Stewart; visitors: Dave Freeman, Bob Chase.

Meeting minutes from February 18, 2004, were approved.

Items:
Student representatives: Bauer introduced Carolyn Backus, graduate student representative from the M.A.Ed. program. Stewart, Ullman, O’Donnell, and Sibicky still need to ask their students about having representatives from their programs. McShaffrey stated that the students can choose among themselves which of them will attend and vote at Council meetings.

Marcolian reporter email questions: McShaffrey asked if there were any questions or disagreements with his answers submitted to the Marcolian reporter’s questions. Members agreed with his responses. He thinks the article may appear in tomorrow’s issue.

New graduate program clarification: McShaffrey stated that he will further discuss the recent constitutional changes with Prof. Ed Osborne of Faculty Council to clarify that new graduate programs do not go through Curriculum Committee for approval.

Graduate programs and Council’s role in the campus self study and assessment: Freeman stated that graduate programs are included in the campus self study. Some existing programs have been doing assessment regularly; assessment reports of newer graduate programs are due Dec 2004. He stated each program director is responsible for submitting the assessment reports and the model used for undergraduate programs can be used for graduate programs. Stewart asked if established formats from accrediting agencies could be used. Freeman stated yes as long as it addresses student outcomes. Chase stated that he is heading the self study section that deals with student outcomes. He stated these need to be conducted and submitted annually and the results need to be shared with the appropriate constituencies (faculty, students.) Follow up surveys should be conducted to see if constituency perception is that your program is accomplishing the changes set forth in the annual assessment report. He called this the “feedback loop.” Freeman added that evidence of communication among constituencies is important especially with students. Little and Brown volunteered to assist O’Donnell to get feedback for the M.A.L.L. program.

Undergraduate student representatives on Council: McShaffrey asked if there were any questions or disagreements with his answers to the student emails about undergraduates sitting on Council. Members agreed with his answers that per the constitutional changes, only graduate students would sit on and vote with Council although all meetings are open to anyone who wishes to attend. Bauer stated the undergraduate senate president had heard concerns whether the focus of the college was leaning toward graduate programs.

Lack of personnel: McShaffrey stated he will forward concerns about the need for additional faculty to teach an increasing number of courses. Bauer asked that the need for support help in Brown’s office be included in these concerns. Bauer stated that Brown successfully addresses graduate students’ needs even though her workload has great increased with 2 new programs in just one year.

Ex-officio voting rotation plan: McShaffrey asked if the voting rotation plan is in place yet. The program directors will work on this matter and put it in writing for Council’s Policies and Practices and submit it at Council’s next meeting. McShaffrey will forward it to Faculty Council when completed.

Common standard for minimum course grades and program GPA: McShaffrey asked if it’s possible to have a common standard across the programs which can be printed in the graduate catalog. Program directors discussed the requirements for each program and found they may be able to reach a consensus on this matter. Each program director will report back on this at the next meeting.

Next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 17, 2004, 12 noon, 207 McDonough.
Meeting adjourned at 1:00 pm.